Q: Found this on sale at my local Farm & Fleet for 20% off. Just confirmation IMSA has been doing things right.
John Balestrieri
MP: To go with the Bimmer, there’s an awesome Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 GTP that Lego offers. There was also the special-edition Doritos with the Cadillac GTP on the bag that came out late last year. The new AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Hot Wheels of “Rexy,” IMSA’s most popular car, have become the hottest car to find — which is nearly impossible to acquire.
I wish I knew why IndyCar either loses in its attempts to do similar things, or is overlooked, but I suspect it has something to do with the Legos and Hot Wheels of the world wanting cooler and newer cars to feature. Maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised with new IndyCar items to buy for the holidays.
Q: Like many of us purists I haven’t taken this news about Michael Andretti’s stepping down lightly. To me, the name Andretti is synonymous with American racing and not having Michael in the IndyCar paddock or on the pit stand on race day seems almost criminal.
The exploits of Mario in the 1960s served to inspire my lifelong interest in motor racing and I have always followed the Andrettis over these many years. As a writer of fiction, my novel series was inspired by these folks and I consider Mario to be a national treasure, a man who not only understood the concept of driving any race car fast but in many ways created the concept of a driver promoting himself. How long before even Mario will cease to be a part of a race weekend in IndyCar? I can’t get enough of Mario’s YouTube interviews where I always seem to learn something new.
I don’t want to speculate about the financial issues with Dan Towriss but know the cold shoulder they got from F1 has to be behind a lot of this. The FBI investigation of Rahal has to have something to do with this, too, I’m sure. For his part, I know little about Michael’s expertise as CEO of such a substantial company. I also know his open criticism of Roger Penske may have been a mistake (but The Captain should recall his original part in forming CART).
On a more positive note, I am very optimistic about the race in Arlington and hope that event will prosper and grow into something like Long Beach. I agree the GP in Indy in mid-May is a bad look for the sport as it appears the effort is needed to fill out the schedule.
James Herbert Harrison, Overland Park, KS
MP: I take solace in the people behind the Arlington GP; the area is billed as an entertainment hub, and the race is being put on by the teams and property/promotions group there. They can’t afford to have the race turn into a low-turnout turkey because that would hurt their businesses and reputations, so I expect all of the parties to go hard in the sales and advertising side to fill the stands and the hospitality suites. I’d expect the first few races to be really strong that way; sustaining it will be the challenge because that’s always the challenge.
Q: I just saw Andretti Global announced Dennis Hauger as rounding out their 2025 Indy NXT 2025 roster and noticed Jamie Chadwick was not among the listed drivers.
As one of just three drivers with a win in NXT in 2024 and all the positive accolades Michael Andretti had given her, it seemed almost like a given she’d be back for 2025. Is this the next casualty of Michael’s stepping away from the day-to-day operations?
This has been one of the most somber silly seasons I can remember.
Joseph L., Westchester, NY
MP: Nothing related to Michael. Jamie decided she’s ready to move to IndyCar, and that’s where her sights are set.
Q: Will the IndyCar Series undergo a chassis and engine development freeze for 2025-2026 in order to shift focus for 2027’s all-new car and engine formula? Will TRD’s rebrand to TGR NA be a precursor for IndyCar return in 2027?
Therius Oktavio
MP: IndyCar has not frozen any rules, nor will it, until it decides what its future engine formula and chassis formula will be. They need to know what the future rules are before they can hit the stop button on what we have today.
Q: My question is most specific to IndyCar and IMSA since they’ve concluded their seasons, but Kelly and Chris are welcome to add their thoughts as well. What would you see as the biggest “sliding doors” moments of the 2024 season in the respective championships?
For me, the biggest single moment in IndyCar was probably not P2Pgate, but Detroit. It was the big moment of vulnerability for Palou, and Penske managed to collectively fumble their chance to make up ground. I think that was the point that the season changed from a tight fight to a fight where the competition felt emotionally like Alex was going to walk away from them again.
In IMSA, I think it was Watkins Glen. The Acuras were so fast, but unable to match the competition at switching their tires on at the restarts. Perhaps it was the extra data from WEC, perhaps it was just luck, but that to me stood out as the moment when the WTAR effort was ruled out of being a title contender and the Penske Porsche march to the title took on a more ominous tone.
But I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Duncan, Ottawa
MP: My mind goes directly to Milwaukee and Will Power’s spin while Palou was experiencing a nightmare of a race. Detroit was a factor, but Penske and Power had a perfect opportunity to capitalize on Palou’s misfortune on an oval and gave it all back with the season all but over.
My IMSA moment was during the offseason when an interpersonal issue at RLL led its technical director to leave and join PPM. The 963s have a zillion different setup options, which made it hard to find the right path at many races in their debut season, and with Brandon Fry inserted for 2024, a more streamlined approach was taken that had an immediate effect. Fry left RLL and the BMWs sank while the Porsches sang.
CHRIS MEDLAND: From a Formula 1 point of view, I feel like there’s multiple when it comes to this season. Almost all of them relate to Norris versus Verstappen, and in particular his start in Spa cost him a good chunk of points, as did the yellow flag in Baku qualifying that turned what could have been a potential fight for a win into only three more points than Max on a day Verstappen was struggling. Same for Monza, too, where a lead at the end of lap 1 could have been a win and an extra ten points over Verstappen at that point.
For a one-off moment between the two, though, it would have to be the end of the Austrian Grand Prix at this point. If there’s no contact and Norris gets the move done cleanly, he gains seven points on Verstappen instead of losing 10 as it played out. That swing of 17 points would mean right now the gap would be 40, and everything would be far more likely to go to the wire.
But I also wonder if Ferrari and Charles Leclerc can be included in this now. He’s got two in particular — in Canada where Ferrari got the approach to the weekend all wrong, and in Silverstone where a gamble on strategy failed. Even just two solid results there would put him around 20 points closer (so about level with Norris) and perhaps with the car looking good right now he’d be a true threat rather than massive outsider.